New Delhi: Trinamool Congress MP Derek O’Brien Friday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had covered a total 3.8 lakh kilometres in national and international travel since 2022—the distance between Earth and the Moon—but couldn’t find time to travel to strife-torn Manipur.
“3,80,000 kilometres, that is 3 lakh (and) 80,000 km, that’s how much the Prime Minister of India travelled nationally and internationally. 3,80,000 kilometers is the distance from planet Earth to the Moon. But the same man could not take a flight 2,400 km (away) to a state called Manipur,” he said in the Rajya Sabha.
He further cited the “irony” of a discussion on the imposition of President’s Rule in Manipur taking place in the middle of the night.
Around 2.40 am Friday, the last day of Parliament’s budget session, Union Home Minister Amit Shah moved a statutory resolution in the Rajya Sabha for approval of the imposition of President’s Rule in the state. The resolution was adopted by the Upper House. The Lok Sabha had adopted the resolution early Thursday.
“On the last day of Parliament, you move the resolution. Why did you not bring it in the morning? What is Manipur’s fault? They are Indian citizens. Worse still, the irony of discussing this state in the way we are doing in Parliament… in the dead of night, 3 in the morning. No TV channels, no prime time, why? Look at Manipur during the day, look at Manipur in the eye and talk to Manipur. Night means it’s sinister,” O’Brien said.
The TMC MP spoke at length about the violence in Manipur, crimes against women and also questioned the timing of moving the statutory resolution in Parliament.
“It has been 22 months now. There’s been prolonged violence. Children, orphans, women, men, elderly shopkeepers, everyone has been affected, sir. The problem is the 22 months have finished but you’re still so arrogant, you won’t even acknowledge there is a problem. That’s your problem sir. Show some humility, first acknowledge there is a problem,” he said, stressing on the need for the PM to visit Manipur.
The Ministry of Home Affairs had last month notified the imposition of President’s Rule in the state under Article 356 of the Constitution, keeping the assembly in suspended animation. President’s Rule has to be approved by Parliament within two months of notification.
It was necessitated after N. Biren Singh resigned as chief minister on 9 February, following nearly two years of ethnic violence in Manipur that is estimated to have killed at least 260 people and displaced another 50,000.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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